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Catcher In The Rye Persuasive Essay

1120 Words5 Pages

Aside from the newfound phoniness of the museum, Holden has always often based himself on one singular statement ‘I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over’. Throughout the span of the novel Holden asks not one but many adults, mainly the cab drivers he meets about the ducks existence; exposing his real question of what would he do when his life got all ‘frozen over’ and he got stuck all alone. Holden often seeks assistance when it comes to moving along, something the ducks do not have, which is brought up when Holden states, “I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them to them away to the zoo or something. Or if they just flew away” …show more content…

When Holden asks one driver by the name of Horwitz this exact question the dynamic of the statement changes when fish are added into the equation, Horwitz exclaims, “The fish don’t go no place. They stay right where the are, the fish. Right in the goddam lake. The fish-- that’s different. The fish is different. I’m talking about the ducks” (92). The fish frozen within the lake parallel Holden in the mindset that they have to get through it alone. Though the ducks migrate together the fish must go at it by themselves, a fear Holden relates to adulthood. He fears being alone with no one to help him find his way, he rejects simply the thought of growing up therefore trapping him in the repetitive cycle of depression, anxiety and grief. Like the fish in the winter he fears growing up because he is dependent, he relies on and is controlled by others in his life, a problem adults must face head on every day of their miserable

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It's their nature, for Chrissake. They get frozen right in one position for the whole winter”(Salinger, 92). Fish do not go anywhere during the winter but they freeze over in the water and the ducks just fly away for the winter. Holden is similar to the fish, after Allie’s death Holden is frozen in the time of grief. Everything comes back to Allie throughout Holden’s life and he is stuck in the anguish of his brother’s death similar to the fish stuck in the lagoon because of winter.

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What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though. Having read JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye a whopping one time, I’d consider myself somewhat of an expert on the subject. I’d even go to the extent of saying it would be my specialist subject of choice if I ever got the chance to appear on Mastermind.

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